2 sentenced in airport drug bust

Two men arrested in April at Lubbock's airport with marijuana, hashish and psychedelic mushrooms on a private airplane were sentenced Friday to 37 months in federal prison.

Michael Gallanter, 48, and Ethan Oliver Wynne-Wade, 31, each pleaded guilty in June to one count of possession with intent to distribute between 50 and 100 kilograms of marijuana.

Both men are from San Francisco.

U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings allowed them to report voluntarily to prison by Oct. 25.

As part of a plea agreement in the case, charges against both men of possession of hashish and psilocybin with intent to distribute were dropped.

The two men were arrested when they landed a Piper Cherokee at Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport for a refuelling stop.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection's air interdiction department, acting on a tip, and Lubbock police made the arrest.

Gallanter, the pilot, had filed a flight plan from California to Atlanta, according to law enforcement reports at the time. The airplane was rented from Travis Air Force Base Aero Club in Rio Vista, Calif., according to court documents.

After the arrest, Gallanter initially told investigators someone he met at a coffee shop asked him to deliver some duffel bags to Atlanta, but denied knowing the contents.

Cummings' sentence was at the low end of the U.S Probation Office's recommendation of 37 to 46 months.

Assistant Federal Public Defender Helen Liggett, who represented Wynne-Wade, offered a summary of several videos that she'd hoped to play in court on his behalf.

In arguing for a low sentence for Wynne-Wade, Liggett cited numerous letters she'd received on her client's behalf supporting his pre-trial release on bail, along with letters submitted while sentencing was under consideration urging leniency.

Liggett said the letters and the videos portrayed Wynne-Wade as a nonviolent person and a peacemaker in his community.

One of the people who spoke in the videos, she said, gave a statement praising Wynne-Wade's work in helping establish a community center in a San Francisco neighborhood.

Another person in the videos recounted an incident in which Wynne-Wade confronted a homeless person breaking into a vehicle and dealt with the situation by offering the person more money to assist with his needs.

The videos weren't played because court personnel couldn't find a way to confine the image to a projection screen at the side of the courtroom.

Liggett said a minimum sentence would be best, because if her client received more prison time, "he would come out of prison not as fine a man as he was when he went in."

Gallanter addressed the court.

"I apologize to the court for the trouble I've caused, and I apologize to my family, friends and fiancee for what I have put them through," Gallanter said.

Cummings, who usually moves quickly through the sentencing ritual, paused for a minute or so and looked out over the courtroom before pronouncing sentence.

The sentence includes three years' supervised release for each man.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.